What is it with the Vancouver Canucks and the lack of support they have across the county of Canada? A survey from Angus Reid reported that over 45% of Canadians would rather see an American team take home the Stanley Cup then the Vancouver Canucks. Boston and Pittsburgh were amongst the most popular US choices.

A Canadian hockey team has not brought home the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in the1992-1993 season. Vancouver came close last year and many Canadian hockey fans were actually satisfied/ happy that they lost in the finals.

Vancouver clinched their second straight Presidents’ Trophy this past weekend and they were considered the country’s best hope to repatriate the Cup to Canada this season, yet they lacked support from the nation. Now they are on the brink of elimination, down 0-3 to the LA Kings and the majority of Canadian hockey fans are smiling.

“They whine. They turtle. They want referees to fight their battles,” Edmonton Sun columnist Robert Tychkowski wrote earlier this week in one of his articles. “They are arrogant, they bite people, and their fans set fire to police cars.” Edmonton sportswriter Dave Staples described them as “the most loathsome team since the thuggish Philadelphia Flyers of the early 1970s.”

Many Canadians don’t support the Vancouver Canucks because they are embarrassed by the behaviour of some fans following the loss of the Stanley Cup last year and the resulting riot. In Calgary, fans are said to have been going as far as ordering in LA Kings jerseys, just to spite the Canucks.

Fans aren’t the only ones who hold resentment towards the organization; Chicago Blackhawks centre Dave Bolland, for example, called the Sedin twins “sisters”. He also called them out for “Pulling hair and biting people – sorta like a little girl.”

A recent anonymous poll of NHL players named Vancouver to be the league’s most overrated team.

There has not been love for the Canucks from East of British Columbia for a very long time. Hostility began brewing late in the season last year following an absolutely dominant finish by the Canucks. One Toronto Star columnist claimed the Cup would go to the “least deserving champions in NHL history” should they have won it.

Much like the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Canucks have become known as pampered. Even former Boston Bruin, current Vancouver Canuck defenseman Andrew Alberts noticed a drastic difference when he came to Vancouver from Boston, “Just look at the locker room,” he commented, “Personalized computers have players’ shifts broken down, so you can watch your shifts alone, or with the coach. There’s food every day, breakfast, lunch and dinner. There’s a hot tub, cold tub, couches, TVs everywhere. There’s somebody you can call at all hours of the night, whatever you need. If your family’s coming to town for a visit, they’ll book hotels and flights. If it’s your birthday, Easter, they send you stuff.”

The combination of their success, their attitude and the attitude of their fans seems to be what displeases the majority of Canadians.

Maybe you should consider this; nobody likes the smartest person in the room. Nobody likes change. The Canucks deliver both of those factors and people don’t like it.

At least they still don’t wear the crown for being the most hated team in Canada… The Toronto Maple Leafs are still winning in that regard.

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